Academy of Contemporary Music to Open in Fall 2009

The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO), a new school providing unique educational opportunities and targeted, innovative classes for students who aspire to have a career in the music industry, will open its doors in August 2009.

Connecting students directly to today's music industry, ACM@UCO's teaching staff will include acclaimed performing artists and award-winning music professionals. Confirmed to offer master classes during the Academy's first year are Greg Kurstin, member of The Bird and The Bee who has produced Lilly Allen; Tom Biery, Warner Bros. Records general manager and executive vice president of Warner Bros. Promotions; and Oklahoma band the Flaming Lips. ACM@UCO states it will announce additional classes and teachers later.

Scott Booker, CEO of ACM@UCO, also heads Hellfire Enterprises, the artist management company he founded in 1990 whose roster includes three-time Grammy winners The Flaming Lips. Booker worked with university and state officials to bring the school to Oklahoma City by partnering with the UK's prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music, which was founded in 1995 and has won a Queens Award for Innovation in Education and seen recent graduates Newton Faulkner and Amelle Berrabah (Sugababes) secure UK Number One albums.

"I'm incredibly excited by the possibilities here," Booker says. "The Academy will provide students with the most innovative music industry education available anywhere in the United States."

ACM@UCO is fully accredited by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and will offer an Associates of Applied Science degree in five areas of study: Performance in Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocal and Music Production. Expanded courses of study and a four-year degree program will be offered beginning in 2011.

ACM@UCO is currently accepting applications for the fall semester with an early admission application deadline of April 15, 2009 and a final application date of June 1, 2009.

Classes will be held at the Oklahoma Warehouse Building off Flaming Lips Alley in Oklahoma City's historic Bricktown district.